Blog Archives

In November 2017, Hazel Dobson, Manager of Gateway World Shop in Durham, went to the WFTO Biennial Conference in Delhi, and teamed up with Rachel Farey of One World Shop, who was also representing the Scottish Fair Trade Forum. Before the actual Conference took place, they visited several producers, one…

Sunday 4th September was the date for the annual Gateway Sunday, a Church service in St. Nicholas’ Church, Durham, when BAFTS’ shop Gateway World Shop (which is housed in the former vestry and has been for over 25 years) works with the vicar taking the sermon to raise themes of…

Laura is currently on her annual visit to our producer groups in Ecuador and Peru. On 16th April a devastating earthquake hit Ecuador as she was travelling between groups. Below is her story: Saturday 16th April After a productive two days working with the artisans in Sosote, in the province of Manabi, Vilma…

*This article is kindly reproduced (in amended, shortened format) from the Scottish Fair Trade Nation website, to focus more heavily on the producer visit and one category, namely Outstanding Achievement of the Year. For full details of all the category winners, please refer to the entire article on their website.…

If you have the good fortune to travel to London before the 16th February next year, we would exhort you to visit the British Library exhibition on “West Africa: Word, Symbol and Song”. This showcases memorabilia from the great African empires of the Middle Ages to the cultural dynamism of…

Readers are probably aware of the impending Climate Talks in Paris. France will host and preside over the 21st Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21/CMP11), otherwise known as “Paris 2015” from November 30th to December 11th. COP21 will be a crucial conference,…

There doesn’t seem to be a day in the year that isn’t National “Something-or-other” Day. Somehow a day doesn’t seem long enough to really take action and raise continued awareness of any one particular concern. Weeks or fortnights seem to do the job better, and October is full of campaign…

“Open Bethlehem is a nonviolent attempt to save a city that belongs to the world. It is unconscionable that Bethlehem should be allowed to die slowly from strangulation.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Bethlehem Passport Holder. Leila Sansour, Film Maker and Director of “Open Bethlehem”, had a Palestinian father and Russian mother , and…

Whilst we have many of our own supplier members who work with artisans in Nepal, I have been struck recently by the need and struggle going on away from the public glare, through the regular social media posts of Bazaar. They are currently visiting their producers and conveying a story which we need…

We are posting this article today from BAFTS’ member Where Does It Come From? Its founder Jo Salter writes here about buying things because we can, that it is all too easy to get carried away with our consumption on many fronts, and what we could perhaps do to alter our…